Tag: God within

What is Religion?

Religious Peace

Click on photo for information about this church.

All our lives we have had some experience with religion and probably attended religious worship services. But what exactly is religion? We have a vague feeling about what religion means to us; is this all there is to know about religion? Spiritual growth requires a fuller understanding of religion. The Urantia Book reveals a radically different understanding of religion; its description is more comprehensive than others and is satisfying on many levels. This is a brief introduction to religion.

Comparison with traditional religions

This revelation, The Urantia Book, declares our philosophers have formulated more than five hundred definitions of religion.[1] A couple of these are: “a belief in a divine or superhuman power or powers to be obeyed and worshiped as the creator(s) and ruler(s) of the universe;” and “any specific system of belief and worship, often involving a code of ethics and a philosophy.”[2]

This “system of belief and worship” is what we traditionally think of as religion. For many individuals this is satisfying and they should be encouraged in their faith. If they are living a spirit guided life we should rejoice with them. There are also countless individuals who claim to follow a particular religion, but this faith is not supreme in their soul, their actions are not guided by religion. For example, most religions proclaim a variation on the Golden Rule: do onto others as you would have them do onto you. Judging by current events this is a minority viewpoint on planet Earth.

These traditional religions, called evolutionary religions, are largely passive. One goes to the church, sings hymns, listens to the preacher, interacts with parishioners, and returns home mostly unchanged. There are prayers and affirmations but little personal spiritual participation.

The Urantia Book describes religion as being more than this, something intensely personal; religion is not definable[3] because it is a personal experience. It would be equally difficult to give a precise definition of love; religion is living love.[4]

In the teachings of The Urantia Book, religion becomes something deeper, richer, more meaningful, and proactive in contrast to traditional religions exemplified above. True religion is a personal experience that becomes service oriented; our lives have been transformed by our religion, it has energized our lives. Religion becomes alive[5] and as a result we must act,[6] not for theological reasons, but rather because we have been uplifted; our actions are a result of this inner transformation. If religion has not brought about this inner change, something vital is missing.

Relationship with God

The key element of true religion is the truth that a spark of God is literally present within every thinking mortal on Earth.[7] result of His presence within, we recognize Him as our Heavenly Father.[8] Knowing God as Father brings us comfort and security because we know we are being guided by a fragment of our Father. God has a plan for our life; all we need do is cooperate with His plan by consistently choosing to do His will.

Once we realize Him as our Father, we recognize everyone is equally indwelt by this spark of God.[9] Everyone is equally a child of God; this means we are all sisters and brothers.[10] Universal brotherhood is a vital component of our living faith. This truth must be such an integral part of our being that all our thoughts and actions affirm this: we are all sisters and brothers.

This affirmation of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of all mortals is a vital component of our existence. This brotherly relationship colors all interactions with fellow beings.

Individual Transformation

How do we bring about a greater realization of spiritual reality? The answer is simple: “ask and you shall receive.”[11] This asking must be an affirmation of desire, a sincere wanting, and it has to be deep enough that it comes from the soul. Just saying you would sort of want to do something is not nearly strong enough. The spiritual forward urge is the most powerful driving force present in this world; the truth-learning believer is the one progressive and aggressive soul on earth.[12] The spiritual forward urge is a fundamental drive toward increased spiritual awareness.

The cornerstone of any religion is faith. Merely believing something will not transform your life; that requires the next step: faith. Religion is faith, trust, and assurance.[13] Faith becomes vital to our existence, it is not something we turn off when we leave church on Sunday; it has become a driving presence within our being. Indeed, religion always depends on faith.[14] In its true essence, religion is a faith-trust in the goodness of God.[15]

Religion is a total conviction in the soul that guides us into a larger awareness of spiritual reality. It tells us it would be wrong to believe otherwise.[16] Religion involves yielding loyalty to the highest spiritual values. Religion embodies all that is good and real. It brings us closer to God.

A Way of Life

Evolutionary religions and revelatory religions may differ markedly in method, but in motive there is great similarity. Religion is not a specific function of life; rather is it a mode of living.[17] Religion is not a ritual, not something to observe from the outside; it must be lived. The religion of Jesus demands living and spiritual experience.[18]

Religion is actually a way of responding to situations we encounter during our life in the flesh.[19] The quality of our religion is displayed by the way we respond to life situations. Do we react with negative emotions or with loving service? Religion is always and forever a mode of reacting to the situations of life.[20] How we react to unexpected situations says a lot about us, when our lives are driven by the true religion of service we have confidence that our Father is with us, helping us and showing us the way.

As a result of rapid technological advances, people today must make frequent adjustments to their way of life; for example my father delivered mail in the countryside with a horse and buggy; he lived to watch men walk on the moon. These rapid changes influence the attitude of society toward religion. Not only is religion a way of thinking, it is also a way of living.[21] Each one of our actions should be colored by our religion; our life choices are directed by our religion.

Religion is a way of living dynamically in the face of events.[22] Since each individual faces different situations, their reactions to events will also be different; standardized religions cannot cope with changing events. For religion to be meaningful it has to become a motivating force in our lives.

Personal Religious Experience

With faith we begin to know God; this is not some sort of a vague feeling, rather it becomes confidence, an assurance that we actually know God within. True religion is an experience of believing and knowing as well as a satisfaction of feeling.[23] True religion is a matter of feeling and acting and doing, not some pondering of dogma.

God is literally present within each thinking mortal on planet Earth. This God within, our Thought Adjuster, is always within us carefully guiding us toward a closer relationship with Him. Throughout this process our free will choices are always totally respected; if we choose to slide into evil ways, they will not compel us otherwise. Religion then becomes the product of our choosing to follow the guidance of our Heavenly Father; true religion is always an experience within, it becomes the product of our choices and is the driving force behind our service activities.

Religion is based on our experience and religious thought.[24] These thoughts and experiences are a product of our actively seeking to do His will, follow His guidance. We will not reach this level of religion if we sit idly by and wait for it to happen.

Religion is ever and always rooted and grounded in personal experience. And your highest religion, the life of Jesus, was just such a personal experience: man, mortal man, seeking God and finding him to the fullness during one short life in the flesh, while in the same human experience there appeared God seeking man and finding him to the full satisfaction of the perfect soul of infinite supremacy. And that is religion, even the highest yet revealed in the universe of Nebadon — the earth life of Jesus of Nazareth.[25]

Personal Consequences

Religion is not a technique for attaining a static and blissful peace of mind; it is an impulse for organizing the soul for dynamic service.[26] Our soul grows as a result of our spiritual choices, as a result of the interaction between our indwelling Spark of God and our free will decisions; it is our potentially eternal self. Religion mobilizes our soul, gets it ready for active service.

Religion gives us peace of mind and joy resulting from our superconscious connection with spiritual reality. This religion, the religion of Jesus, bestows that peace which transcends all understanding as well as an inner joy.[27] Religion is our reach toward spiritual reality, our desire to find our Heavenly Father and to become more like Him.[28]

Religion is the consequence of our relationship with our Heavenly Father. When this relationship is strong and expanding, our religion is dynamic and we are growing in our service efforts toward our sisters and brothers, especially those who reside in spiritually dark places.

  1. The Urantia Book, 1129.8, this refers to the one column version in the format page:paragraph; all references are to The Urantia Book unless otherwise noted. ↑

  2. Third College Edition Webster’s New World Dictionary of American English, Victoria Neufeldt and David B. Guralnik eds., Webster’s New World, Cleveland and New York, 1988, p 1134. ↑

  3. 1124.3 ↑

  4. 1100.7 ↑

  5. 1120.4 ↑

  6. 1121.1 ↑

  7. 24.6 ↑

  8. 1091.1 ↑

  9. Bible, I Corinthians 3:16 ↑

  10. 1101.3 ↑

  11. 1838.3 and Bible, John 16:24 ↑

  12. 2063.2 ↑

  13. 1104.3 ↑

  14. 1137.1 ↑

  15. 40.5 ↑

  16. 1115.4 ↑

  17. 1100.3 ↑

  18. 1782.3 ↑

  19. 68.5 ↑

  20. 1780.4 ↑

  21. 1013.9 ↑

  22. 1089.11 ↑

  23. 1142.2 ↑

  24. 1130.4 ↑

  25. 1128.3 ↑

  26. 1096.6 ↑

  27. 2063.1 ↑

  28. 2096.6 ↑

Shallow People

Shallow people are those who are spirituality thin; spiritually speaking they are without substance. They live their lives with no lasting goal, seeking nothing of eternal value because they have not received the saving message of the eternal worth of every human being. These individuals live totally in the moment, ignoring eternal life that is available to all who believe. The thrust of their lives extends not much farther than tomorrow. They have little purpose in their life and have no thought about where they will be in a thousand years.

These shallow people are the product of our secular, greedy, materialistic society. They have no comprehension of anything beyond material existence; they do not know material objects are transitory; they can disappear or decay over time. Material things can be useful in the moment, however they may quickly lose their value depending on circumstances.

Even many individuals who attend church are caught up in this spiritually shallow existence, instead of receiving uplifting spiritual guidance, they are overwhelmed by dogmatism. They may be honest in living a faith directed life, but the faith guiding them is shallow.

Purpose of Life

In order to better understand shallow people and their difficulties, we need to think about what is the purpose of life. Why are we here? Is there something we should be striving for that shallow people are missing?

Before undertaking any task, we need a plan and a goal. If we are going into town on an errand, especially in these times of COVID-19, we must know what we are going to do and plan accordingly. Perhaps we will go to the Post Office, the store, and the bank. We need a plan. This also goes for our life, what do we want to accomplish? There should be long term goals like getting a proper education, a satisfying job and planning for retirement, but even this is not enough. Considering the relentless march of time and our apparently brief mortal life span, having a really long term goal and plan would be more significant.

The Urantia Book is a revelation describing the nature of God and His creation. It presents a new and exalted goal of destiny, a supreme life purpose. (Urantia Book, 1778.3) Our life purpose should be difficult, but balanced so there is no danger of becoming enveloped in fanaticism.

We need to develop a plan for our lives that incorporates a goal for our eternal life. How can we reach eternal life? What are the steps?

Human life continues — survives — because it has a universe function, the task of finding God. The faith-activated soul of man cannot stop short of the attainment of this goal of destiny; and when it does once achieve this divine goal, it can never end because it has become like God — eternal. (Urantia Book, 1459.7) 

The purpose of life is to attain eternal life. We do this by following the spiritual guidance each one of us receives. We are not alone in the universe; each thinking mortal has within them a literal spark of God.[1] Also, given the complexity of our physical apparatus, the vital life force we feel flowing throughout our body, our self-aware consciousness, and the web of our interactions with sisters and brothers, there is no way our Heavenly Father would snuff us out after a brief mortal existence; that would certainly be a lot of wasted effort. Father does not operate that way.

Dogmatic religions do not teach this truth, rather they proclaim their followers must adhere to the dogma, obey the rules. Fixating our life efforts upon this goal of eternity gives a new motivation to our existence, a new purpose for our lives, and a sublime goal: serving our Heavenly Father throughout all future eternity.

Jesus, as reveled in The Urantia Book, places a high value on each person. Jesus placed a high value upon all human beings because each one of us has the chance to go to Paradise and meet our Heavenly Father, therefore he was willing to spend himself in the unremitting service of humankind. And it was this infinite worth of the finite that made the golden rule a vital factor in his religion. What mortal can fail to be uplifted by the extraordinary faith Jesus has in him? (Urantia Book, 2093.4)

Many religions give lip service to the Golden Rule, but in the everyday lives of their followers it frequently is not practiced. Just read the news. The reason for this is they have no motivation to actually practice the Golden Rule; they vaguely understand it and its importance. They have no articulated plan for reaching life eternal, therefore some religions produce shallow people.

Sisters and brothers: the time has come when each of us needs to reach out toward our goal of destiny, serving Heavenly Father during our eternal life.

Shallow People

Shallow people do not know about their goal of destiny, they were not given and did not seek the good news. Their family, their religious institutions, and their interactions with brothers and sisters did not give them this truth. Because of this they have no spiritual depth, no spiritual vitality. They live a moment to moment existence where there is no thought about what might come next. Shallow people may have no moral foundation.

They may certainly be moral in their actions, but this is because they were so taught, or because it seems to be the right thing to do, not because it is in harmony with a life goal seeking an eternal existence. They may be good because they so choose without any consideration of eternity. They are guided by good thoughts, not by a driving spiritual urge. They are spiritually good people, but shallow.

There are also shallow people who have given up on experiencing anything after their life in the flesh; they feel they can do whatever they may choose without lasting consequences. Whether or not they are caught will not be consequential in the march of eternity because God is our ultimate judge, but their misdeeds certainly poison the lives of those affected by their misdeeds.

Being shallow in spiritual matters is unrelated to intelligence. It is certainly possible that those with more intelligence could be very thin in spiritual awareness, while our less endowed sisters and brothers may totally “get it.” The outward physical appearance has no relationship to inward spiritual progress.

Spiritually shallow people permeate society and are without guidance because they ignore the leading of their spark of God within and other spiritual guides, such as the Spirit of Truth.[2] Our Heavenly Father is reaching out to each thinking mortal, gently guiding each one closer to Him. Spiritually shallow people do not know about the beckoning of eternity and therefore they ignore the spiritual guidance they receive.

Message to Brothers and Sisters

The Father is not in spiritual hiding, but so many of his creatures have hidden themselves away in the mists of their own willful decisions and for the time being have separated themselves from the communion of his spirit and the spirit of his Son by the choosing of their own perverse ways and by the indulgence of the self-assertiveness of their intolerant minds and unspiritual natures. (Urantia Book, 64.1)

The message to all of our brothers and sisters is that our Heavenly Father is guiding each one of us; we are absolutely not alone. The goal of our existence has to be: follow this spiritual guidance, seek the goal of eternity, seek to become more like our Heavenly Father, and enlist in His service throughout all future eternity.

WOW.

  1. Bible, I Corinthians 3:16 ↑

  2. Bible, John 16,13 ↑

Ideology vs Morals

These postings are generally a commentary on a particular topic with respect to my book “Light of Truth – Anticipating the Triumph of Righteousness” and the corresponding website UBLightofTruth.com. My book is based on teachings in The Urantia Book, a revelation of truth published in 1955. Strong undercurrents in global society relate directly to my book; Ideologically Driven Processes are actions strongly motivated by a particular ideology. Morality is not even contemplated, only the ideological goal and ways to attain it are considered.

One glaring example is Communism; its founders desired a “worker’s paradise” where labor would receive proper compensation for their work. This is certainly a noble idealistic goal, but when its precepts were implemented, a dark repressive society emerged. Something went wrong between ideological conception and actions supposedly leading to the goal. Communism became a government with no recognition of the worth of laborers to whom it was supposed to bring equality. It resulted in a government whose primary goal became staying in power, while their “worker’s paradise” was put off into a far distant future.

Ideology

In this context, ideology means a set of ideals strongly motivating a group of citizens. Secondary considerations fall by the wayside because the idealistic goals are deemed to be urgently needed; they become the focus of existence for followers of the ideology. This goal is of such supreme worth, any action not contributing to it is shunned. This ideology becomes the primary motivation for the group.

There are countless such motivating threads in our society; in no particular order there are: Conservative Christianity, seeking to promote a narrow interpretation of Biblical teachings; White Nationalism, promoting a white only society; Conservative Politics, promoting the desires of big business at the expense of working people and removing their health care during a pandemic; wild conspiracy movements; anti-abortion groups; radical and violent members of all political ideologies; agents secretly promoting interests of other nations in our social media and society. No doubt there are many more.

There are segments of society where goals do not rise to such a level of fanaticism; some individuals recognize the importance of morality in realizing their goals. These elements are beginning to realize the value of every citizen, they realize the worth of every human, and they are beginning to become conscious of the presence of God in the life of each thinking mortal. For them the end can never justify the means because therein lies a Godless anarchy.

Proponents of a particular ideology may follow leaders with whom they do not fully agree; they do this so they can have access to power and advance their own goals. The leader obtains a larger following while the ideologues gain recognition and access. Leaders with dictatorial aspirations eagerly accept such fiercely dedicated ideologues because they tend to ignore issues not related to their goal.

Ideologues firmly committed to their beliefs will claim their goal is so important it must be pursued with utmost vigor; it rises above conventional morality. They rationalize their actions with “absolutes” as a basis for their actions; they might claim “The Bible says…” therefore they are justified taking any action. Any time we seek to avoid moral responsibility by employing such ideological processes we are going against the will of God who is within every thinking mortal, not just the ideologues.

Moral Foundation

One way to understand the problem with ideological processes is to examine the importance of having a moral foundation. Any undertaking needs to have a firm foundation if it is to succeed. It is a Biblical truism that a house cannot be built on shifting sands, but neither can an individual life, or even a civilization. All civilizations of the past have eventually failed because they had no moral foundation. Many an individual has failed because they lost their moral footing. Moral foundations are vital.

How does one construct an enduring foundation? The only truly lasting moral foundation consists in realizing every thinking mortal on Earth has within them an actual spark of God; our Heavenly Father is within every person and we all stand equal before Him. Knowing by faith and experience that God is within becomes our moral foundation.

How does this foundation work? We can still have noble idealistic goals, but now before we act we must consider any proposed action relative to our moral foundation; determine if it is consistent with our moral base. If the proposed action includes immoral shortcuts, if it means marginalizing anybody at the expense of others, causing physical harm to others, or if it takes unfair advantage of the poor, then the proposed action is inconsistent with our moral foundation and has to be rejected. If it passes these tests, it may be acceptable. Every proposed action must be carefully evaluated relative to our moral foundation. This naturally means it might take longer to reach our idealistic goal but it would also make reaching it more realistic. The Communist Revolution took place about a hundred years ago and today there is no indication its initial goals can ever be reached. Every action requires a firm moral foundation.

Interactions

These various ideological threads have polarized society so much there is an excessive amount of anger, fear, and hatred. Each group is so fixated on their own goals there can be very little dialog between these ideological groups. Many of these groups follow leaders who are, or want to become, demagogues; they follow with the hope their own goals will be advanced. In their rush to realize their goals they ignore moral deficiencies in the leader they have chosen. Exchanges between competing groups become heated and compromise is nearly impossible; there appears to be no effort to understand holding different beliefs. Misinformation fills social media and influences many who are ill informed; those in political power frequently contribute to this flood of lies.

These ideological interactions sweep across society on many levels, having a logical dialog becomes more difficult every moment. Until more individuals become aware of the powerful truth that our Heavenly Father literally dwells within each human being, these interactions will continue to be difficult. Frequently these exchanges are heated because the ideologues are so firmly convinced of the rightness of their beliefs; they have left conventional morality behind.

Consequences

The result of these conflicting ideologies is our society has become highly polarized; compromise, even governing, has become nearly impossible. When a collection of these ideological processes takes control in a nation such as ours, there is no obvious way to carry out important governmental activities, such as implementing a timely and effective response to our Coronavirus disaster.

It goes even deeper than that. Many people have become indifferent to the needs of other human beings. They are being pulled in so many directions at once there appears to be no way of reconciling these various processes. There certainly are people who deeply care, but the overall tenor of society is divisiveness.

At the core of these activities are individuals who, for whatever reason, are purposefully deceptive. Perhaps they feel their goals are too important to totally depend on conventional morality; they are above such mundane pursuits. The consequence of this flood of ideas is that whenever we receive information we must evaluate it with respect to its truthfulness. Some news sources may generally be trusted, but never social media where there is little fact checking.

We realize our society has a problem; it is time to move forward and seek solutions.

Solutions

When having a discussion with an ideologically driven individual no solution can be found if the dialog is heated, if the participants cannot have a calm, reasonable discussion. A shouting match only makes everyone even angrier. The number one priority is to cool down the rhetoric. Often there appears to be no way to accomplish this, but a way to begin is to find why they are angry. If this cannot be done there can be no dialog. If they respond saying “I am angry because…” the reason can be discussed and perhaps progress can be made toward having a reasonable discussion.

Next we need find a way through the ideology so exchange of ideas is possible. Frequently ideologues use code words that encompass a wide range of ideas, sometimes it is difficult to determine exactly what the code words are and what is meant by them. We need to understand what they want, only then can we progress to the next step.

Finally we must seek common ground. Finding this common ground is the only way society can continue; it is vital to our survival.

When each one of us realizes every human being has within them an actual spark of God, realizes we are all sisters and brothers, we can begin to work toward building a more inclusive society, one where the worth of each mortal is recognized.

Sisters and brothers of planet Earth: unite for the Triumph of Righteousness!

Perfect Victim

Troublous times such as we live in can be a clarifying experience because they reveal previously unknown deficiencies. Have we not, every one of us, bitten into an apparently healthy fruit and found it totally rotten on the inside? Biting into the apple revealed the unseen rot within. By the same token, COVID-19 produced stresses which exposed profound defects in our secular society. The root cause of our current multiple predicaments is not some microscopic virus; the underlying issue is our refusal to consider spiritual reality.

Secular society has created the perfect victim

Billions of them

Sunny Dooley, nearly the last traditional Diné (we call them Navajo) storyteller, has said: “We have every social ill you can think of, and COVID has made these vulnerabilities more apparent. I look at it as a monster that is feasting on us—because we have built the perfect human for it to invade.”[1]

Her people had a profound spiritual practice but white people destroyed it. Their spirituality was based on connection with the land; they were forcibly removed from their land, thus destroying their spiritual roots. Later it was based on a relationship with their only property, their sheep, which were then purposely slaughtered. Their spiritual foundation was repeatedly destroyed. Children were violently taken from their families and forced to speak only English. Their culture, their spirituality and their language were stripped away. Because of these deliberate actions they had no spiritual foundation.

She also said there is anxiety and panic because a lot of her people do not know how to be alone, they have no spiritual practice to anchor them. Because of this they have nothing giving their lives meaning, purpose, and value. Those in power have destroyed the spiritual foundation of the Diné people. Those performing these atrocities thought white culture was superior, but their actions declare otherwise; whatever the relative value levels may be, any cultural transformation must be accomplished gradually. The same can be said about the so-called Emancipation Proclamation, while it was the moral thing to do, it suddenly ripped slaves out of an immoral bondage and replaced it with—nothing at all; more than 150 years later we are still experiencing consequences of that spiritual disassociation.

Sunny Dooley is talking about her people, the Navajo, but the same process also applies to our American society and a large portion of global society. Everywhere we look we see obesity, ill health, and individuals cut off from society, disenfranchised. Indeed COVID seems to have effected American society more than others. “But the COVID‑19 debacle has also touched—and implicated—nearly every other facet of American society: its shortsighted leadership, its disregard for expertise, its racial inequities, its social-media culture, and its fealty to a dangerous strain of individualism.”[2] Our culture has created the perfect victims for this monster.

Moral foundation

Everywhere we look we perceive human beings without a spiritual foundation; their lives are built upon the shifting sands of materialism, selfishness, and greed. Every human, every nation, every enterprise of any kind absolutely needs to be built upon spiritual reality. Material things may come and go but spiritual reality, God, is unchanging.

This notion of having a moral foundation may seem like something ephemeral or of no consequence; something for the weak-minded to chuckle over. They would no longer be jolly if they discovered their house was built upon quicksand. If it is vital for their material abode to have a firm foundation, why is it their lives, their very existence, are without a firm moral foundation?

Our society has been largely secular for so long, hundreds of years, there appears to be no alternative. But consider: every physical object needs something substantial to rest upon. We have difficulty walking on the soft sands of the beach; if we park our car in muddy terrain we will not be able to get out without assistance. Why then do we not seek some sort of foundation for our existence? Why do we presume to dance through our mortal days in the flesh without anything of substance guiding us, motivating us, and upholding us? Why do we feel we do not need something substantial to lift us up? Why do we think we can ignore God?

Our Heavenly Father who created all things and beings, who upholds all creation, is the ultimate bedrock. God is the most unyielding foundation possible. When our total existence is based upon this crucial truth we cannot fail. There may be apparent setbacks, there will certainly be difficulties, but in the final analysis failure is not possible when we steadfastly stand on our moral foundation, our Heavenly Father.

Pandemic

How does this apply to our current situation, COVID? First we have to be secure about our own moral foundation. We can do nothing if we are floundering spiritually. We need to fully recognize God as our pilot and the basis of our existence; that He is certainly present within our being, a vital part of each one of us.

We then expand this to recognize each person we can become aware of also has this God presence and therefore has value. Mind numbing figures might overwhelm us when we recognize every one of these thousands of human beings who depart Earth every day around the world had God within; their mortal existence was terminated prematurely by this monster we name COVID.

Only after that should we look at the broader picture. When we have a firm moral foundation we will examine facts instead of hearsay and social media gossip. Having God as our foundation means we look at science to guide our actions, not some anonymous tweeter. Once we have done these things we can then formulate our individual response.

Since each one of us is a unique individual, our reactions to COVID must also be singular. But these reactions absolutely need to be based upon our moral foundation, science, and recognizing every mortal has value. Once we have done all this we take every reasonable precaution: wearing masks and gloves when out, social distancing, avoiding indoor restaurants, and avoiding indoor gatherings of any kind. With online meetings such as Zoom we can conduct some business and meet with friends. We reserve hugs for our family members.

COVID is only an illuminating warning flare. It has exposed the dangers of our secular materialistic society. We ignore it at our peril, individually, societally, and globally.

  1. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coronavirus-is-attacking-the-navajo-because-we-have-built-the-perfect-human-for-it-to-invade/ Retrieved 7/21/2020. Sunny Dooley as told to Scientific American. ↑

  2. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/coronavirus-american-failure/614191/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=website, retrieved 8/4/2020. How the pandemic defeated America, by Ed Yong ↑

Faith in the Time of Coronavirus

Spring Hope

Click on photo for information about it.

Things have changed around our house, as it has for many of us. A month ago we were a household of two with one cat. Then two family members were rescued from Palm Beach County, not a place to be during these times. Now there are four of us and two cats; I spend a significant amount of time being gate keeper for cats.

A discussion of the place of faith in our life is important in difficult times such as now. Faith can be a great comfort; it also can become a dangerous crutch. When faith ignores science, the consequence can be unfortunate.

In these times of anxiety over global pandemic, faith can be a comforting presence, but what does this mean? How should faith motivate us in these troubling times? Faith must be a driving force in our life at any time, even more so when we are in distress as today. Faith should be the bedrock of our existence, but must be based on spiritual reality. We must not presume Heavenly Father will allow us to flaunt faith, expecting Him to protect us from whatever misdeeds we might perpetrate.

Most of the country is under some sort of stay-at-home directive; the goal of which is to minimize spread of this deadly disease. There is scientific evidence isolation does in fact help curb the spread of this virus. Stay-at-home orders are a sensible method to lessen the severity of this deadly pandemic; such orders are based upon sound science from many places around the globe.

In Lodi, California, where there was a mandatory stay-at-home order, one pastor held religious services anyway, and was arrested after the services. We saw a report interviewing the faithful as they left the service. Many of them said they were “protected by the blood of Jesus.” They were confident and unanimous in their faith that Jesus would protect them from harm. Let us pray they are correct. The issue is about not only protecting ourself, but also those around us. One unsuspecting infected individual in that service could infect dozens of others who would spread it even farther. That is exactly what happened in South Korea. At least one infected person, identified as “patient 31,” attended a gathering at Shincheonji Church of Jesus, and infected others, this quickly grew to thousands. South Korea, a democracy, issued and enforced mandatory stay-at-home orders, the spread was minimized.

Jesus said we are to render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s;[1] he was talking about taxes, but this directive would also apply to laws, which we must obey. This especially applies when such laws are based on science and aimed at protecting public health. To do otherwise would be placing one’s own wishes above health and safety of sisters and brothers.

When religious people base their faith on a set of dogma, they are in danger of limiting themselves to only what that dogma proclaims. Sometimes this even neglects reasonable scientific considerations, as we saw above. Since everyone is indwelt by a spark of Heavenly Father,[2] faith can be a personal relationship with Him. The bedrock of faith should be the conviction Father is with us. Father will protect us as long we follow spiritual reality. If we presume to be somehow above others, we have not true faith.

Truth is living; the Spirit of Truth is ever leading the children of light into new realms of spiritual reality and divine service. You are not given truth to crystallize into settled, safe, and honored forms. (Urantia Book 1917.3) When truth becomes crystallized dogma, it has lost its vitality.

Everyone is equally indwelt by an actual spark of Heavenly Father. This means He is always with us, guiding us, and showing the way. He is “no respecter of persons.”[3] Father respects everybody equally; we all stand equal before Him.

Belief becomes faith only after it motivates our lives and changes our way of life. This faith is a living and personal religious experience.[4] When we have this personal experience, when we dedicate ourselves to following God’s will in thoughts, actions, and deeds, we know God and His love for each of us. In his life among us, Jesus attained the highest realization of this as a human being living on our planet. Jesus was born a mortal struggling to understand his surroundings just as everyone born on this orb or on any other in this local universe. He was on his own, and by the strength of his will and faith, he found God; and so can we if we make his faith our faith.

Jesus personified personal religious experience, and this shone forth in his life. The religion of Jesus is all about each believer having an individual relationship with God. It is truly that simple, and that difficult.

When an individual has faith there may not be any obvious indication; if they truly do have faith they cannot consciously prove it.[5] The only way faith can be demonstrated is first, fruits of the spirit are shown in their life,[6] and second their entire life shows they have risked everything they are and everything they have in pursuit of finding God in their own life.[7] Fruits of spirit include sincere and loving service working to uplift people in darkness.[8] In times such as this, we manifest fruits of the spirit in joyful service to family, friends, and neighbors.

Society must become more aware of spiritual reality; however this may take a major event. We need something to make us aware of the need for all citizens to seek a more spiritual existence; this spark may be anything: a major war, riots in the streets, a pandemic, an economic collapse, or perhaps a spiritual awakening. People need to become aware of their eternal spiritual possibilities, what will be in store for them if they reach out to grasp eternal goals and seek spiritual reality.

Kingdom builders… are not to be disturbed by temporal upheavals or perturbed by terrestrial cataclysms. What does it matter to you who believe this gospel of the kingdom if nations overturn, the age ends, or all things visible crash, since you know that your life is the gift of the Son, and that it is eternally secure in the Father?[9] (Urantia Book 1916.2)

We pray for peace, love, harmony, and guidance. We pray health care workers, government officials, and others on the front lines of this pandemic will find courage, strength, and moral fortitude to do the right thing. We pray those who have lost loved ones will have time to grieve, remember, and move on.

Be safe.

  1. All references are to The Urantia Book unless otherwise noted, 1899.2, this refers to page:paragraph of the one column edition; and Bible, Matthew 22:21, also appears in Mark and Luke. ↑

  2. Bible, I Corinthians 3:16 ↑

  3. Bible, Acts 10:34 ↑

  4. 1114.5 ↑

  5. 1733.2 ↑

  6. 1733.3 ↑

  7. 1733.4 ↑

  8. 1930.3 ↑

  9. 1916.2 ↑